Joe Satriani takes on Coldplay

redenemyjoe

Joe Satriani is filing a lawsuit against Coldplay for plagarism. Their song Viva La Vida ripped off his song If I Could Fly

http://news.google.co.uk/news/url?sa...o2_b1IDQw_aUUQ


Go Satch Go!

mike65

I just listened to the main melody of the tracks overlaid, its a total ripoff!

Note for note, its a perfect match.

ShawnRaven

Chris Martin and Co don't have a leg to stand on! It'll get settled out of court though.

OctavarIan

They are similar but not similar enough for Satch to have a case. Like ShawnRave said it'll get settled out of court.

mike65 wrote: »

Note for note, its a perfect match.

No it's not.

grames_bond

OctavarIan wrote: »

They are similar but not similar enough for Satch to have a case. Like ShawnRave said it'll get settled out of court..

what do you mean not enough for him to have a case? i think he has a perfect case:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ofFw9DKu_I

flogen

So was it that these guys and Coldplay ripped off Satriani, or did Satriani and Coldplay rip off The Creaky Boards, or did Coldplay rip off both of them at the same time? I'm confused.

I'm willing to believe this melody is such a simple one it's been used a hundred times before. It may not even be a matter of anyone ripping someone else off - it's so basic they could all have come to it naturally.

I remember seeing Billy Joel talk about hearing a piece of Beethoven that sounded like 'Uptown Girl' (which he heard long after writing the song), and he made the point that there is a limited number of melodies in the world that people will find listenable, so at this stage we're largely just repeating and adapting what has already been and gone.

Although I'm willing to believe that Coldplay are talentless mimics, too.

Gary ITR

flogen wrote: »

So was it that these guys and Coldplay ripped off Satriani, or did Satriani and Coldplay rip off The Creaky Boards, or did Coldplay rip off both of them at the same time? I'm confused.

I'm willing to believe this melody is such a simple one it's been used a hundred times before. It may not even be a matter of anyone ripping someone else off - it's so basic they could all have come to it naturally.

I remember seeing Billy Joel talk about hearing a piece of Beethoven that sounded like 'Uptown Girl' (which he heard long after writing the song), and he made the point that there is a limited number of melodies in the world that people will find listenable, so at this stage we're largely just repeating and adapting what has already been and gone.

Although I'm willing to believe that Coldplay are talentless mimics, too.

Totally agree. It's a simple melody and both parties could just have naturally arrived at it.

Aligator Farmer

Satriani Rocks.
Coldplay are about as interesting as Dido.
But I don't see why Satriani would even bother with this, I mean Chris Martin listening to Satriani CD's for inspiration, it doesn't make sense.
Still, its good publicity for Satch

MizzLolly

Anything that makes Coldplay go away is a WIN!! \o/

Nolanger

MizzLolly wrote: »

Anything that makes Coldplay go away is a WIN!! \o/

This recession will kill Coldplay off.
People will start buying music like this again:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEvh3BRvSRU

grames_bond

MizzLolly wrote: »

Anything that makes Coldplay go away is a WIN!! \o/

the lady speaks the truth!

nyarlothothep

Coldplay were accused of mimicking a song by an american band last year.

OctavarIan

grames_bond wrote:

what do you mean not enough for him to have a case?

Apart from a few notes the melodies are completely different.

nyarlothothep wrote: »

Coldplay were accused of mimicking a song by an american band last year.

Accusations that were proved false and were retracted.

~Rebel~

Hmmm I dont think this is the first time...take a listen to these two beside each other;

(cant embed while also doing the thing bringing them to the right time.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDFmuOtKrBc#t=0m37s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkW5da-AFGo#t=2m18s

Coincidence? I think not!...even the lyrics borrow from it a little...

mike65

Good spot! Thats two cases or possibly three cases to be settled out of court then.

BarryCreed

Satch should be sued for wearing shades indoors on stage at night:cool:

ShawnRaven

BarryCreed wrote: »

Satch should be sued for wearing shades indoors on stage at night:cool:

You could sue half the frontmen of most rock acts then!

damonjewel

There was also the case of the rip off of the central riff to Kraftwerks Computer Love for Coldplay's Talk. Kraftwerk are appaently credited in the sleeve notes, but it annoys me when a band knowingly take something and dress it up as their own.

here's computer liebe

The bedazzled dolphin song rip off is without doubt the greatest rip off since My sweet lord

Mushy

Similar without a doubt, but sure happens so much.

In Endless Sacrifice by Dream Theater, there's a bit that is the exact same as Scream, Aim, Fire by Bullet for my Valentine.

In 'This Dying Soul', the previous song on same album by DT, they have a bit that is the exact same as 'Blackened'.

So as much as I despise Coldplay, I think it may have been coincidental. Come on, feel sorry laugh at them, they have Girls Aloud supporting them...they can't be that good.

Thomas_S_Hunterson

Coinidence imo

oh and Satch and Coldplay are very boring and bland. /hides

mental07

grames_bond wrote: »

what do you mean not enough for him to have a case? i think he has a perfect case:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ofFw9DKu_I

Meh, they're not that similar, imho. Bit of a coincidence I would say. That mash-up is great though! :P

Sarky

That youtube video has made a small section of a Coldplay song listenable. I am aghast.

carchaeologist

It gets weirder and weirder....
A German court has ordered former Thin Lizzy guitarist Gary Moore to pay damages after ruling the guitar solo in his 1990 hit "Still Got the Blues" had been plagiarized from a German song written in 1974.

A court in the southern city of Munich said on Wednesday the solo in Moore's song was too similar to the one in "Nordrach" by the band Jud's Gallery not to have been copied -- even though the German song was not available on record at the time.

In a statement, the court ordered Moore, 56, from Northern Ireland, and his record label to pay damages to band leader Juergen Winter who brought the case. The amount has yet to be fixed.

Moore had denied knowing the song, which the court said could only have been heard live or on radio at the time.

The court said it had no evidence the solo had been lifted deliberately, but that this was immaterial in copyright infringement.

Moore can appeal against the decision.

"Still Got the Blues" was the title track on Moore's album of the same name, one of the guitarist's most successful records. According to online chart database everyhit.com the single reached 31 in the British singles charts in May 1990.

Moore played with Thin Lizzy for a few months in 1974 and again in 1978-79 before leaving the Irish band to start a solo career.

So let me get this straight. Gary took the solo from some unrecorded song from 1974 I can't even pronounce? Then he waited 16 years for the right opportunity to use the solo, as he couldn't come up with one on his own? Please....

I bet hes fairly p1ssed now..

yevveh

Some guy posted elsewhere this Cat Stevens video when the topic of Coldplay being ripoffs cropped up, and true to his word from 3:32 you might hear something familiar...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUXda-RTE_c

Plus, Win Butler from Arcade Fire also accused Coldplay of stealing their look. Is there anything they haven't been accused of plagiarising already? :rolleyes:

JConstantine

Lets Just face it , Coldplay are spa's

carchaeologist

JConstantine wrote: »

Lets Just face it , Coldplay are spa's

Haha,thats a bit extreme,but they do get a bit wearing at times...

rgjmce

it's an exact copy except joe plays it on guitar and clearly chris sings it. I personally think it is very easily done and plus in the joe satriani song it is like a few seconds of the song, joe leave coldplay alone i think this is total ball ox. So what if you wrote a little melody that ended being on coldplays new hit song, if you were smart you would have made that the main melody in your song.

anonymous_joe

damonjewel wrote: »

There was also the case of the rip off of the central riff to Kraftwerks Computer Love for Coldplay's Talk. Kraftwerk are appaently credited in the sleeve notes, but it annoys me when a band knowingly take something and dress it up as their own.

here's computer liebe

The bedazzled dolphin song rip off is without doubt the greatest rip off since My sweet lord

Actually, they went to extraordinary efforts to get Kraftwerk's permission to use it, but it took something like a year through lawyers to get it. Kraftwerk reportedly sent back a blank piece of paper with the word yes typed on to it.

jill_valentine

yevveh wrote: »

Plus, Win Butler from Arcade Fire also accused Coldplay of stealing their look. Is there anything they haven't been accused of plagiarising already? :rolleyes:

Uh... if your source for this is the blog in my sig, it's possibly worth pointing out that the blog in question is a gag by an Arcade Fire fan. Win Butler's too nice a dude to ever do/ say anything like that in a million years.

That said:

anonymous_joe

Arcade Fire have a look now? ^^

jill_valentine

You didn't think they always dressed like 19th century X Men, did you?

anonymous_joe

jill_valentine wrote: »

You didn't think they always dressed like 19th century X Men, did you?

I'd certainly hope not. ^^

yevveh

jill_valentine wrote: »

Uh... if your source for this is the blog in my sig, it's possibly worth pointing out that the blog in question is a gag by an Arcade Fire fan. Win Butler's too nice a dude to ever do/ say anything like that in a million years.

That said:

Ha! It is actually. It was so long ago, I forgot it was a gag.

Pub07

If it was just the melody it could have been accidental but the backing track riff is the same too, that puts it beyond coincidence.

jill_valentine

Holy crap.

Well, I finally got around to listening to the other song. It's like listening to one of those weird cheap ass karaoke cover versions. Mad similar, but... I dunno, I really can't imagine Coldplay listening to it.

Thomas_S_Hunterson

Has satch got an album in the pipeline?

Elle Victorine

I'll be surprised if it's not thrown out of court.

Voodu Child

Unfortunately a lot of people commenting have no musical knowledge and/or no legal knowledge.

Coldplays song has enough similarities to warrant a judge deciding the matter. That doesn't mean Joe will win or not, but it means there is certainly enough of a case there to let the matter be decided by the courts.

Mad similar, but... I dunno, I really can't imagine Coldplay listening to it.

Coldplay have name-checked Satriani in a number of interviews; he's not an artist that the average lay-person would have heard of, but most guitarists have, and that includes the guitarist(s) in Coldplay. There is nothing unbelievable about one of them listening to his albums and conciously or unconciously ripping off elements.

Actually Coldplay have joked a number of times in interviews about their plaguarising and unoriginality.

jill_valentine

Martin's joked about it, yes, but the joke was always about playing up to people's perception of him. He says a lot of stuff like that, I don't think he was ever really saying "Yes, we rip people off. We like doing it".

That said, if he has namechecked Satriani before, then that does put a bit of a spin on things, doesn't it? I just have a hard time picturing Chris Martin air-guitaring along to it going "Yeah, this is wicked. We'll take it!"

stateofflux

i think satch is looking for a large of chunk of the money earned from the song....and he should get it...its a blatant steal

how can anyone here say its not a blatant rip off....maybe you need to get your ears examined for wax

Thomas_S_Hunterson

The fact that it sounds the same doesn't mean they stole it.

The fact that the notes are the same doesn't mean they stole it.

It's a very simple riff and structure. It could very easily be down to coincidence.

Karl Hungus

Sean_K wrote: »

It could very easily be down to coincidence.

I don't believe that for a second. We're talking about a chord progession, and then a melody played over that. Those are two seperate things, but both songs share them in common, they're identical. I could believe that Coldplay came up with the progession by coincidence, or that they came up with the vocal melody, but both? At the same time? By accident!?

sham69

Have to agree with Karl Hungus its too coincidental.
I know its easy to say it now but when I first heard the Coldplay song (lets call it that) I said to one of my mates that it sounded familiar.
I didnt connect it with Satch (even though I have the song at home).
Bit surprised at the Gary Moore thing but then again he did kind of rip himself off with Still got the Blues sounding like Parisian Walkways and then every Blues album having a ballad with the same chord progression Dm7, am etc..

Voodu Child

Sean_K wrote: »

The fact that it sounds the same doesn't mean they stole it.

The fact that the notes are the same doesn't mean they stole it.

It's a very simple riff and structure. It could very easily be down to coincidence.

Joe is one of the most respected guitarists in rock in terms of his understanding of music theory, so you can be sure he has not taken the decision lightly, because he thinks the Coldplay track 'sounds a bit like it' or that it's a simple coincidence.

Here are the similarities:
-The chord progression is to all intents and purposes the same (it is not 100% identical, but to explain the differences you'd need to get into music theory, ie diatonic chord substution etc.)

-The groove/meter is more or less the same. ie you're not just talking about the same chord progression, but the rhythm that the chords are played out at, and the 'feel' of the tune.

-The tempo is the same, literally identical to within a bpm or two(this is not so relevant but is interesting nonethless)

-Joes chorus melody is strikingly similar to Coldplays.

That's it. Any one or two on their own would be incidental and not too important, but when you combine them - its not a 100% win for Joe, but like I said, it is so similar that it is definitely worth getting the courts involved to settle the matter.

He needs to demonstrate two things
-Similarity
-Access (ie that there is the possibility that they heard his tune at some stage).

He doesnt need to demonstrate that they deliberately ripped it off, in the eyes of the law it is irrelevant whether it is deliberate or accidental.

Joe has said that he has tried to talk to Coldplay and/or their people to try and resolve it outside the courts but that they basically just ignored him. I think he has a good case, and even if he doesnt, he is doing what any artist would - ie standing up for what he believes and trying to protect his work.